Chapter Five: From A Distance

Jasper wallowed for many days after that, though he tried to tell himself that he'd delivered justice to the poor girl. That didn't really help in the end -- he had still selfishly taken a human life. He hadn't really done it for her. It was for him alone that he'd killed. Jasper mulled all this over as he sat in a quiet corner of a coffee shop. He had refused coffee from the friendly young waitress, and was sipping mechanically at some water. He saw no need to make himself less suspicous. The truth was, he didn't know where to go from there. The eastern half of the states seemed like it would be a good start, but after that ... he wasn't sure.

The waitress came over and refilled his water glass. Jasper watched her, but tried not to look at her. He was thankful that he had taken in enough nourishment from Annabelle that he didn't feel the instant hunger that tended to blind all rational thoughts.

"You seem preoccupied." She had noticed his deep thinking. How observant of you. He forced a smile.

"Nothin' really bad. Just have a lot on my mind." Jasper was careful to tone down his accent. Even though they were technically still in the south, his accent, being from Texas, was much thicker, and noticable. He returned his attention to swirling the ice in the glass of water. It had a relaxing effect on him for some reason.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything to eat? It'd be on the house ..."

Was she flirting with him? Jasper couldn't believe it.

"No, s'all right, Ma'm." He looked up at her again, and blinked. She was very fair skinned -- there was a soft polka dot bow in her red, curly hair. It quite reminded Jasper of some of the other ladies he had seen, and drank from in his time. She seemed different -- generally sympathetic, without knowing him at all.

"Is it always this dead around here?" Jasper asked.

"Not always. It's just been slow this week, you chose a good day to come in." She sat down in the chair across from him. "I'm Melanie Bullock."

"Jasper Whitlock." He found that Melanie's naive charm warmed his heart, if only slightly. Her smile was very generous, and she really did seem to realize how lonely Jasper was. Maybe that had been his real sorrow at having killed Annabelle. Child or not, at least she had been company for a short time. He wasn't sure he'd ever find that again.

"Mel, order's up for table eleven," a gruff man's voice called from the kitchen. Jasper felt a sense of irritation coming from him.

"Perhaps you better go back to work ... I'm really alright, ma'm." Jasper didn't want to get too attached to anyone else -- he'd seen where that got him, and he just didn't want that anymore. He smiled kindly, and sipped his water.

"I get off an hour. Maybe we can go somewhere to talk."

She got up, and went back to work. Jasper watched her work discretely. She seemed happy enough, but Jasper wondered if there was something deeper underneath her polished façade. carefully reached out empathically to see if he could detect anything further. He pulled back sharply, like a rubber band being snapped into place. There most definitely was something deeper. He felt a great deal of bloodlust, along with guilt. Bloodlust from a human meant one thing only in Jasper's experience. The girl was a murderess. He felt the venom in his mouth stir as he immediately wanted revenge for the ones she'd killed. Jasper realized at once that was why she'd been so kind to him. She'd planned to lure him out. Well, Jasper certainly wasn't going to allow her to kill again. When she came back to refresh his water for a third time, he smiled.

"Y' know. I think I'll take you up on that offer, ma'm. I'll come back in an hour's time, and we can talk then."

He got up, and left the coffee shop. It's humans like you that make my kind seem tame ... and that is really saying something. Jasper forced himself to calm down as he walked the length of the strip. He took the time to look into some of the extra shops, casually watching everyone that went by. Many of the people in this part of town were happier than other places he had passed through, but there were a select few that still carried a bit of silence. He paused briefly, ahead of him was a mother and daughter. The mother put an arm around the daughter.

"I know, Ginny. I miss him too ... I don't what he was thinking, going off with someone he didn't know ..."

"They ... they said it was another woman, Mama. Do you think it's true?" The girl looked up at her mother. She was no more than sixteen, and she really did miss her father terribly.

Jasper carefully sent out a wave of calm to them both, before he crossed the street. He had less than forty-five minutes before he had to be with Melanie. He wasn't looking forward to what had to be done. Jasper was certain that Melanie was probably the one responsible for the the girl's father's death. He tried to keep a sharp ear out for possible links of the same kind of stories, and paused in front of a store that served alcohol. He listened as two elderly men talked of staying away from women all weren't sure who was responsible for the male murders, but they weren't taking any chances. The vampire shook his head getting more disgusted. He glanced around, looking for a source by which to tell time. He finally stopped a young man that looked smartly dressed.

"Scuse me. Can you tell me what time it is?"

"It's just past five." The young man smiled. "You're not from around here, are you, Sir?"

"No indeed. Just traveling through." Jasper allowed himself to smile at the man. "Thank you for your time, Sir." He turned, and headed back to the coffee shop

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Melanie was just wiping down her last table when Jasper returned. She smiled sweetly at him.

"You did come back. I was certain you weren't going to."

"I never turn down a chance for a good conversation from a pretty young girl." Jasper allowed his own gift to work against her. He would allow himself this one. His voice, which he'd kept in a nuetral polite tone, returned to it's Southern roots.

"Where is this place you know of?" He wanted to know how far they'd have to go, so he could gauge how much time he had with her, and how long he had to lead her into that familiar false security that was his trademark. He tried not to think too much about what he was doing, if he started doing that he wouldn't be able to exact revenge for those who'd lost love ones. He thought instead, of the girl Ginny that had been in the shopping center. She had lost her father senselessly.

"Just down the road a pace. It's not far." She walked out of the coffee shop, and Jasper followed close behind her. His thirst was churning, and he felt the venom rise in his mouth but he pulled himself together. He wanted her to feel the same way he imagined most of her victims had felt before they were killed. Safe, and secure. "It's nice to have a young man to talk to ... I get so few of those these days ...."

I'll just bet you don't ... Jasper thought venomously, as an image of how he'd torment her mercilessly entered his head. He waited for her to unlock the door of the building she'd led him to. Melanie turned to smile at him. He smiled back, pleasantly. "Are you sure we're going to be alone here, Ma'm?" He would play her game, for now. But she wouldn't know what was coming. He'd make sure of that.

"You can call me Mel. Everyone else does." Melanie said as she turned on a few lights. Jasper blinked, adjusting his eyes to the sudden light.

"Come on in."

Jasper entered the room. He wasn't surprised by what was in it. Or, rather, what wasn't. There wasn't a table to be seen. Just a bed. and on the bedposts, were some kind of restraints.

So that's how you play. Well, darlin, you're in for a rude awakening. He turned to look at her. "You don't stay here alone, do you?"

"Most nights I do."

Melanie was pouring a drink from a dark bottle. "Here, have yourself a drink..." She handed him a shot glass. It smelled like a strong liquor. Jasper wrinkled his nose, and his stomach burned even more.

"I don't drink,." He dumped it. "Let's get this over with. You didn't bring me here for conversation, did you? If all you needed was a little pick me up, I would've gladly provided that. There's no need to drug me." He was gauging her mood, she felt caught off guard.

Good. That's exactly how Jasper wanted her.

"I take it I'm the first one to know you're doing something underhanded too, aren't I?" Jasper was enjoying himself -- he would play with her a bit more before going in for the kill.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about. It's just a silly drink ..." Melanie smiled, trying regain herself -- but she'd already lost her confidence.

"Look, we can --"

She was studying Jasper. She couldn't figure out how he had figured out her game so quickly -- no one else had.

"I'm not like all those others, darlin'. I'm very perceptive." Jasper's smile was cruelly sweet. He moved towards her. "I have no one to live for. You can do me in, if you want."

Melanie blinked backing up. "Now hold on just a minute! Who the hell told you?!" She dropped her entire act now, in her panic.

"As I said," Jasper continued to walk towards her, "I'm very perceptive." His stomach churned. She was becoming afraid of him. Jasper needed to push her a little farther -- he had the confession, that gave him enough cause to finish it.

"A-are you going to kill me ...?" Melanie asked. Her voice was a mere whisper. "I ... I'm sorry, if I killed someone you knew ..."

"It ain't me you should be apologizin' to, Mel." Jasper said her name like he'd just tasted something sour. "You left a child without her father." He pulled her up by the elbow. "As for killing you? That sounds fair to me." He pushed her on to the bed now, and after a minute of struggling with her, he had her wrists in the restraints.

Melanie no longer had words. She was terrified. Who is this gorgeous monster? Where did he come from, and why didn't I see how much trouble he was? "P-please..."

"Oh you want mercy? Is that it?" Jasper's voice was taunting. He was sitting by her bed, and enjoying watching her squirm. He thought of Peter, and how he would've enjoyed this even more. Well, this one will be for him. That's all there is to it. And it will be my last kill. Of that last thought, Jasper was certain. He would never again allow himself to indulge like this.

"Did you give the ones you killed mercy?"

"N-no ..." Melanie looked away from Jasper now. Tears streaked down her pretty face, as she shivered in fear of what Jasper had planned for her. Would he rape her? Beat her? Death would've been kinder than either of those.

At length, Jasper stood up. He'd had enough. His stomach had been patient enough with his game. He forced her to look at him.

"You don't know what mercy is, but I do. And I will give you the mercy of a quick, and painless death." Before Melanie had a chance to react to that statement, Jasper snapped her neck, and began to feed.

(A/N: Just a quick note. From now on, Lost and Found will be updated on Mondays before midnight, due to the hectic schedules of both the author, and her beta. Thanks for reading!!)